


that blooms for just one hour

by TrekFaerie



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Bullying, Childhood, Gen, POV Child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 08:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6846400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrekFaerie/pseuds/TrekFaerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On Arkanis, sunshine is an annual event, and Hux couldn't bear to miss it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	that blooms for just one hour

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by ray bradbury's emotionally devastating short story, "all summer in a day."
> 
> so, if you've read that, you know you got a big storm a-comin'.

The rain tapped lightly on the library windows, growing softer and softer as the time passed. In only a few minutes, it would be gone completely, and replaced with the rare, beautiful sunlight of their system's only star.

The arrival of the sun in Arkanis was an annual affair, lasting only a few hours before it was swallowed up by storm clouds once again. It was something of an event at the Academy: classes were canceled, and the adults would watch with smiles of wistful reminiscence as the students, from the younglings to the near adults themselves, would gather up their friends and play games on the drying grass, would stand with arms wide open and soak up as many rays as they could before their time was up.

Brendol Hux II was nine years old, and he had no friends. So, he waited in silence, watching the rain slowly draw to a stop.

The methodical, sensible part of his mind despised the whole thing. The sun was powerful during those few hours, as if making up for lost time; his skin, pale and soft, burned almost instantly, and though his nanny droid would give him a special lotion to soothe it, it would, invariably, peel in a disgusting, reptile-like way. And skipping a whole day's worth of classes just for play seemed silly and wasteful; he knew his father, at least, didn't approve of the practice, and only allowed it due to the violent outrage that would follow its dismissal.

But, there was another part of his mind. It dreamed of the sun at night; of how it felt, like a gentle blush over the whole body, of how it made his eyes squint and water because, damn it, he just couldn't help _but_ stare at it like a fool. It was the part of him that made his heart ache when it disappeared behind the clouds again. The part that made him press a small hand against the warm windowpane, making a print in the condensation. The part of him that longed for sunlight the way the rest of him longed to rule.

"Hey, Junior!" It was Ismene, an upperclassman, leading a gaggle of underlings behind her. She was a brutish, cruel girl, who had, for some surely puerile reason or another, decided that teasing, taunting, and outright assaulting him was a fun way to pass a boring day. Father had told him to avoid conflict with her; her parents were very high-ranking, and could make life very difficult for them if he happened to anger her. So, he was forced to grit his teeth and silently endure whatever torture she fancied putting him through that day, keeping himself sane by imagining how he'd give her and her underlings twice what they gave him, once he was emperor of everything.

"Junior!" Her voice, loud and obnoxious, broke through his fantasies. She had a few good inches and pounds on him, and when she grabbed his wrist and pulled it off the window, it hurt. "Don't ignore me when I call you! How interesting could that rain be?"

"It's not the rain that's interesting, Izzy," said a boy beside her. "It's what it'll be replaced by soon."

"Exactly! Everyone's downstairs, getting ready to go out and play, and ol' Junior is up here

"I'm going to go out," he said, hating how his voice wavered. "I just wanted to get some studying in--"

"Studying! Daddy's little showoff!" She laughed and twisted his wrist, small and thin in her hand. "You're not going to play; you'll just stand there and stare at it like you always do!"

"He'll burn up redder than lightsabers in the old holos," said a girl with a voice like water. "Perhaps it'd be best if he stayed up here, so he doesn't get hurt."

Her voice was so gentle, he hadn't noticed what she had said, hadn't realized the implications behind it, until he felt Ismene grab him and easily pull him up by his armpits, hugging him close to her chest.

"You're right, Jo!" she said. "Let's put him somewhere safe, gang! For his own good, of course! I'm sure Daddy wouldn't want that mean ol' sun hurting his precious Junior!"

He struggled violently, but her friends were older and stronger, and they held him easily as they dragged him across the library

There was a maintenance closet, unlocked as usual, and it was easy enough to throw him inside. Buried by fallen cleaning supplies and tools, by the time he was able to pull himself free, the door had already slammed shut.

He tugged the handle, but to no avail; they had done something, put a chair against the door, and he was far too weak to even nudge it. He pounded the door and begged for as long as he heard their receding laughter; he screamed until his throat went raw when he was sure they were gone, on the off chance someone had lingered behind as he had; and when the grey dreariness under the crack in the door had turned to bright, shimmering light, he wept, sobs wracking his body as he lay down on the floor, reaching out his fingers through the gap in the door, searching desperately for just a taste of warmth. He felt nothing.

Hours passed. They never even came back to let him out; a maintenance droid accidentally freed him while making its rounds. Night had long since fallen, but he could hear it clear as day: the steady thrum of rain against glass.

**Author's Note:**

> and then like twenty years from then he uses a sun to blow up some planets, so everything turned out alright in the end.
> 
> SUPPORT IMPORTANT TREKWORKS: https://www.patreon.com/trekfaerie


End file.
